Eight Banners Guild Hall

Eight Banners Guild Hall

The Eight Banners Guild Hall is a cultural heritage site protected by Fuzhou City.

The Eight Banners Guild Hall is located on Daoshan Road, Gulou District, Fuzhou.

Historical records describe the Mingzhong Envoy Garden as featuring “lofty terraces, winding pools, and tranquil flowers and bamboos,” and including attractions such as the Xijia Pavilion (also known as Xijia Tower), the Jianjia Thatched Hall, the Shuiyun Pavilion, the Binlian Pond, the Shanjin Hall, the Langfeng Tower, and the Yuwo Bridge.

The Fengzhi Guild Hall served as accommodation for high-ranking Qing officials and nobles from the Eight Banners stationed in Fujian. The main building complex consists of five courtyards extending from front to back, with main structures including halls, a theater stage, kitchens, storage rooms, gardens, flower rooms, rockeries, fish ponds, and pavilions, covering a total construction area of over 5,000 square meters.

Currently, one reconstructed hall remains, rectangular in shape, covering an area of 360 square meters. It is enclosed by walls on all sides, has a double-sloped roof, and features a post-and-lintel wooden frame with particularly large wooden pillars. The caisson ceiling on the roof is relatively well-preserved. To the south of the main hall stands a theater stage, surrounded on three sides by intricately carved lattice doors and window panels adorned with floral and bird patterns, capable of accommodating about 500 people, and exhibiting architectural styles of the Manchu people during the Qing Dynasty.

Originally built as a leisure garden for Gao Cai, the eunuch in charge of maritime trade, it was commonly called the “Envoy Garden.” Located southwest of the city, it was also referred to as the “West Garden.” In the mid-Qing Dynasty, it was converted into a guild hall, serving as a place for socializing and temporary residence for officials from the Fengtian and Zhili provinces. As it was predominantly frequented by Manchus, it became popularly known as the “Eight Banners Guild Hall.”

In the early Ming Dynasty, Wang Gong, the Duke who married an imperial princess, built the prefectural city wall and excavated earth here, creating six large ponds. In the eighth year of the Chenghua era (1466 AD), due to changes in trade conditions, the Maritime Trade Intendant Office was relocated to Fuzhou. Gao Cai, the supervising eunuch, transformed the ponds into a garden for leisure and banquets, where “lofty terraces, winding pools, and tranquil flowers and bamboos” could be found. Because it was the residence of an eunuch, it was commonly known as the “Envoy Garden,” also called the “Official Garden.”

In the early years of the Jiajing reign, the office of the maritime trade supervisor was abolished, and the garden fell into disuse. It was subsequently acquired by Wang Yingshi and Xue Menglei, who developed it as their private estates.

During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, when Qing troops invaded, they stationed in the garden, and the pavilions and terraces were all destroyed. During the Shunzhi period, the garden came under the ownership of the Sun family. In the early Kangxi years, it belonged to Chen Quan, a criminal department official of Min County, and later to Chen Dingguo, a scholar from Houguan. He associated with local literati such as Lin Hui, Xu Bi, Zeng Dasheng, Wang Zibiao, and Chen Riyu, forming a literary society, and the place was still called the West Garden.

Later, the West Garden was incorporated into the Lishui Manor. After changing hands several times, it was developed into the Fengzhi Guild Hall in the mid-Qing Dynasty.

In the late Qing Dynasty and during the Republican era, the site gradually deteriorated. After 1954, it was used as a factory for the blind, deaf, and mute. In the early 1990s, it became the Fuzhou Hardware and Electrical Appliance Factory. The buildings were demolished and altered, leaving only one hall of over 300 square meters.

In 1992, the Eight Banners Guild Hall was designated as a municipal-level cultural heritage protection unit.